Collapsible tote box and skid



March 31, 1964' R. J. WILLIAMS COLLAPSIBLE TOTE BOX AND SKID Filed Au 9, 1961' I INVENTOR.

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l7- IVE/5f United States Patent 3,127,084 COLLAPSIBLE TOTE BOX AND SKID Robert J. Williams, Birmingham, Mich, assignor t0 Cadillac Products, Inc., Warren, Mich., a corporation of Michigan i Filed Aug.'9, 1961, Ser. No. 130,335 Claims. (Cl. 229-44) This invention relates to improvcmentsin material handling containers or tote boxes and in particular concerns improvements in such boxes which are provided with skid or socket devices adapted to slidably receive the forks of a lift truck in order that the box may be lifted by the lift truck, moved around, loaded, and unloaded withoutany manual contact therewith.

Heretofore, tote boxes of the above type provided with skids have been rather heavy, usually constructed of metal, and have not been collapsible or foldable to allow the boxes to'be readily stored or shipped in. convenient and available relatively. small spaces. The inherent size of these boxes which may be used to carry bulky materialsuch as clothes, bulk cotton or wool, waste paper, baked goods, hemp, shoes, lightweight metal articles, etc, creates a space problem which can become quite serious in manufacturing plants and storage buildings, particularly if a large number of these boxes must be kept on hand and used each day in the plant operations. Moreover, the cost of shipping such non-foldable boxes to the user thereof would be disproportionate to the number which could be shipped in a certain space. An alternative to this situation would be to fix the skids to the boxes after they have been delivered to the user, however, busy manufacturers are notinclined to take on such additional burdens. i V

It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide a collapsible lightweight box preferably of proper strength corrugated paperboard or cardboard having skid segments permanently attached thereto, which box occupies a small space when in the folded position, but, which is capable of holding a large volume of material in the open position.

Another object is to provide a tote box having skid means permanently connected thereto, which box is foldable to a shape which allows a number of similar boxes to be stacked for storage or shipment.

A further and specific object is to provide a corrugated paperboard or cardboard foldable tote box with half skid means attached to each of the bottom flaps thereof so that the box can be dumped from the bottom and folded up to occupy a small space.

Applicant has accomplished these objects by providing a tote box consisting preferably of corrugated paperboard and so constructed that even with the skid segments attached to each bottom flap thereof if may be folded to a size occuping only a fraction of the space it occupies when in use. Moreover, applicants tote box is so constructed that it may be readily used in such a manner that the contents thereof can be dumped by turning the box upside down, or by merely rotating the individual lift truck forks to open up the bottom of the box to dump therefrom where convenience so requires. Lift trucks provided with these rotatable forks or tines are well known to the material handling art.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 represents an isometric plan view of applicants tote box and skids;

FIGURE 2 represents an end view of the tote box with its skids in their folded position;

FIGURE 3 represents a cross sectional view of the box tudinal members 42 and transverse members 44.

3,127,84 Patented Mar. 31, 1964 of FIGURE l taken along the line 3-3 in the direction of the arrows; and

FIGURE 4 represents a cross sectional view of FIG- URE 3 taken along the line44 in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to the drawings, applicants tote box generally indicated 10 comprises heavy corrugated paperboard or cardboard walls 12, 14, 16, and 18. These walls may be of any required thickness and rigidity and are respectively provided with upper flaps 20, 22, 24, and 26 at the top portions thereof. As shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, the walls may be provided respectively with flaps 28, 3t), 32, and 34 at the bottoms thereof. Bottom flaps 28 and 32 and also top flaps 20, 2 2, 24, and 26 when bent out of the plane of their respective walls provide effective strengthening means for the walls.

Bottom flaps 3t) and 34 are respectively secured by adhesive means or mechanical means such as stapling or nailing to skid segments or socket members generally indicated as 36 and 38. These skid segments comprise a plurality of spacer blocks 4-0 to which are secured longi- Members 40, 42 and 44 are preferably of wood. The skid segments 36, 38 are permanently connected to the flaps 3i) and 34, respectively, both when the flaps 3i) and 34 are in a closed and in an open position. More specifically, referring to FIGURE '3, it is seen that the flaps 3t), 34 and the skid segments 36 and 38 may be swung downwardly and outwardly around the pivots provided by the reduced thickness joints 5%) connecting the sides 14 and 18 with flaps 30 and 34 respectively. Accord- "ingly, the contents of the tote box 10 can be dumped through the bottom thereof without having to disconnect the skid segments 36, 38 from the flaps 30 and 34.

Referring to FIGURES 2 and 3, it is seen that when the skid segments 36 and 38 are opened outwardly and downwardly as shown by the dotted lines in FIGURE 3, the boxes may be folded and the sides 12 and 14, and the sides 16 and 18 may be positioned adjacent each other. This folding allows other boxes to be positioned as shown by the phantom lines in FIGURE 2, and a number of these folded boxes and skids may be stacked to occupy a space previously occupied by a single open tote box. The fact that the skid segments 3-6, 38 are permanently connected to the flaps 3t), 34 when they are both opened and closed enables the tote boxes to be collapsed from their open position illustrated in FIGURE 1 without having to disconnect staples or other connecting means. Thus the tote boxes are in no ways damaged by being collapsed and can be stored and reused many times before being discarded. It is noted that the joints 50 between the sides of the box and at the connection of the flaps to the sides are reduced in thickness preferably by a mechanical rolling or stamping operation and readily allows pivoting of the flaps and the sides of the box relative to each other. These joints may be strengthened by adhesively securing fabric strips (not shown) lengthwise thereof either on the inside or outside of the box without impairing the flexibility of the joints. All of the cardboard portions of the box including all of the flaps and sides can be stamped, out or sawed from a single piece of material and connected together along one edge 52 by adhesive or mechanical means such as stapling.

The cardboard may be provided with corrugations to strengthen the same and may be of a laminated structure incorporating adhesively secured together lamina having corrugations running in opposite directions to provide quite durable and strong construction for tote boxes to be used for carrying heavy loads. Many types of corrugated paperboard or cardboard are available for practically any strength requirements.

It is noted that the disclosure of using paperboard or cardboard to making .applicants tote box is only, representative of many materials which could be used. For example, wood or plastic could also be used, however, reinforced paperboard orcardboard provides sufficient rigidity for many applications as well as providing its own hinging by means of reduced joints 50 which is a considerable cost-saving factor in material, time and labor involved in the manufacture of the box.

While it will be apparent that the embodiment of the invention herein disclosed is well calculated to fulfill the objects of the invention, it will be appreciated that the invention is susceptible to modification, variation and change without departing from the proper scope or fair meaning of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A container having bottom flaps flexibly connected to side portions thereof for swinging motion about respective hinge axes between positions opening and closing the bottom of said container, a skid segment connected to each of said flaps when said flaps are in both said open and closed positions, said container being collapsible when said flaps and skid segments are in their open position without having to disconnect said skid segments from said flaps, said skid segments defining a longitudinally extending passageway beneath each of said flaps, each of said passageways extending substantially parallel to the hinge axis of the flap beneath which it is positioned and being adapted to removably receive the tang of a fork lift type truck.

2. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein said bottom flaps are integrally hinged to the side portions of the container.

3. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said passageways is of generally rectangular crosssectional configuration and is adapted to limit transverse movement of a fork lift truck tang therein in all directions.

4. A four-sided container'having bottom flaps flexibly connected to opposite side portions thereof for swinging motion about respective hinge axes between positions opening and closing the bottom of said container, and separate skid segments connected respectively to said flaps when said flaps are in both said open and closed positions, said container being collapsible when said flaps and skid segments are in their .open position without having to disconnect-said skid segments from said flaps in order to position saidside portions and said segments in substantially adjacent and parallel planes, each of said separate skid segments defining a passageway extending substantially parallel to its hinge axis and adapted to removably receive the tang of a fork-type lift truck.

5. A thick-walled paperboard container having bottom flaps connected to side portions thereof by flexible, reduced-thickness integral joint portions for swinging motion about respective hinge axes between positions opening and closing the bottom of said container, skid segments permanently connected respectively to each of said flaps when said flaps are in both said open and closed positions, said container being collapsible when said flaps and skid segments are in their open position without having to disconnect said skid segments from said flaps, each of said skid segments comprising upper and lower confining means extending transversely of each of said bottom flaps respectively, and spacing means disposed between said upper and lower confining means, said upper and lower confining means and said spacing means on each flap defining a passageway extending substantially parallel to the hinge axis thereof and adapted to removably receive the tang of a fork lift type truck.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,494,730 Thursby Jan. 17, 1950 2,675,936 Ridge Apr. 20, 1954 2,791,369 Paige May 7, 1957 2,965,276 Foster Dec. 20,- 1960 3,026,015 Severn Mar. 20, 1962 

1. A CONTAINER HAVING BOTTOM FLAPS FLEXIBLY CONNECTED TO SIDE PORTIONS THEREOF FOR SWINGING MOTION ABOUT RESPECTIVE HINGE AXES BETWEEN POSITIONS OPENING AND CLOSING THE BOTTOM OF SAID CONTAINER, A SKID SEGMENT CONNECTED TO EACH OF SAID FLAPS WHEN SAID FLAPS ARE IN BOTH SAID OPEN AND CLOSED POSITIONS, SAID CONTAINER BEING COLLAPSIBLE WHEN SAID FLAPS AND SKID SEGMENTS ARE IN THEIR OPEN POSITION WITHOUT HAVING TO DISCONNECT SAID SKID SEGMENTS FROM SAID FLAPS, SAID SKID SEGMENTS DEFINING A LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING PASSAGEWAY BENEATH EACH OF SAID FLAPS, EACH OF SAID PASSAGEWAYS EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE HINGE AXIS OF THE FLAP BENEATH WHICH IT IS POSITIONED AND BEING ADAPTED TO REMOVABLY RECEIVE THE TANG OF A FORK LIFT TYPE TRUCK. 